All Articles
February 14, 2013

Essential Skills for an Effective Leader

Effective leaders realize they do not have to have all of the answers to questions and problems that may arise.  They instead realize the answers to most problems or challenges lie within their own team.  To unlock a team’s creative perspectives leaders must ask five essential questions which create a framework for leadership.  The training course, “Leadership: 5 Steps to Engage Your Team,” gives these five questions to ask:

  1.  Focus forward: what is already working?
  2. Analyze success: what caused this success?
  3. Clarify the goal: what is our objective?
  4. Establish benefits: what are the benefits of accomplishing our objective?
  5. Plan & take action: what can we do more, better or differently to move closer to our objective?

No one wants to contribute when the question being asked is “what is the problem here?” instead, focus toward the positives and ask, “what is working?” to receive more contribution and involvement from the team. This video training course provides narrative examples of how you can apply the leadership techniques.
Along with effective team engagement, as a leader you must be able to delegate.  In “Leadership: 5 Steps to Delegation,” techniques and reasons for delegation are provided.  The course includes the five vital steps which are:

  1. Analyze the task
  2. Select a delegate
  3. Assign the task
  4. Execute the task
  5. Feedback sessions

Delegation can be a powerful way to work through and with others.  Effective delegation, for simple or complex tasks, builds trust, helps employees develop new skills and reduces your stress as the leader.
Through delegation and engagement, as a leader, you will develop a more cohesive and dynamic team.  Direct your team’s direction focus forward, to possibilities and solutions instead of backwards to failures, blaming and excuses.
Other effective leadership training courses offered by Mastery include:

Leave a Reply